Sherman County eNews #181

CONTENT

Tobacco: Know the Real Cost!

Music at Fort Dalles Museum, July 24

Senator Ted Ferrioli: Fair, Constitutional PERS Reform

History Tidbits: Stories about Biggs, Miller & Grant

Oregon Revised Statutes: Livestock Districts and Open Range

Links: Things to Think About & Things to Do

Hosea 4:6 – My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

1.Tobacco: Know the Real Cost!

– Tobacco use remains the number one preventable cause of death and disease in Oregon, killing 7000 people each year, and costing Oregonians $2.5 billion a year in medical expenditures and lost productivity due to premature death, resulting in the burden of tobacco use equals $1600 a year per Oregon household according to Oregon Health Authority.

-According to the Oregon Office of State Fire Marshall Annual Report Supplement smoking is still the #1 cause of fire in Oregon, accounting for 2,510 fires in 2015. Cigarettes and smoking is the leading cause of fatal residential fires.

-20% of adults in Sherman, Gilliam and Wasco county smoke which is higher than the state average.

What to quit smoking?
1-800-QUIT-NOW (800-748-8669) or
1-800-DEJELO-YA (Espanol)

2. Music at Fort Dalles Museum, July 24

Music at Fort Dalles Museum is happening on Sunday, July 24, at Fort Dalles Museum/Anderson Homestead. This month’s music makers are It’s All Relative and 9 String Band. The music starts at 4:00 p.m. on the grounds of historic Fort Dalles Museum. Each group will play for an hour. The Dalles Farmer’s Market will be back with food and beverage. Please come on Sunday, July 24, for two hours of music, history, food and fun. For more information call the museum at 541-296-4547.

3. Senator Ted Ferrioli: Fair, Constitutional PERS Reform

Public Employees Retirement System.

Since the Oregon Supreme Court overturned the 2013 Grand Bargain PERS reforms, we’ve heard time and again from Governor Brown that there is no path forward for reforming PERS and fixing the now $21 billion-plus PERS liability. The Governor said she couldn’t see a path toward fixing PERS, and a spokesperson for her office was quoted earlier this week saying the state is “severely limited” in PERS reform options.

Not only is this attitude wrong, but it is unhelpful in addressing what may be the biggest crisis facing our state today. If we don’t find a way to reform PERS during the next legislative session, school districts and local governments will face up to $1 billion in additional PERS costs over the next biennium.

What does this mean for you? Fewer teachers and school days for our students, larger class sizes, and a growing inability to fund critical government services like mental health and public safety.

School districts in Senate District 30 will see drastic increases in PERS rates starting in 2017:

North Wasco Schools – rate increase between 3.4% and 4.4%

Ontario Schools – rate increase between 3.12% and 4.12%

Baker Schools – rate increase between 3.81% and 4.81%

Jefferson Schools – rate increase between 2.96% and 4.67%

John Day Schools – rate increase between 2.99% and 3.99%

Fortunately, the legislature’s attorneys and PERS’ own actuary have confirmed that there are still fair, constitutional options for reforming PERS, saving our local governments and keeping PERS solvent into the future. Here are some of those options and their potential savings:

We could “redirect” employee contributions to help pay for future retirement benefits, saving around $3.4 billion.

We could use a market rate for money match annuities, instead of the assumed rate that is currently double the market rate, saving around $1.1 billion.

We could cap final average salary at $100,000 when calculating pension benefits, saving around $1.2 billion for OPSRP members and even more for Tier 1 and Tier 2 PERS recipients.

Alongside other potential reform options, we could save the state over $5 billion. We do have a roadmap for fair, constitutional PERS reform that protects our promise to retirees while helping us make and keep promises for future state employees. The Legislature needs to act now to save our school districts and local governments from the burden of ever-growing PERS costs.

However, this path will require an extraordinary bipartisan effort like we saw during the 2013 Grand Bargain. It is a path we must take to protect our schools before PERS rate increases force school districts to cut school days, lay off teachers, increase class sizes and cut programs like PE and art.

Weeks ago, we shared this information with the Governor and legislative leaders with the hopes of jumpstarting a bipartisan solution. The formal opinion of Legislative Counsel that we shared concludes that a number of possible reform options are constitutional. We are still waiting for a response.

4. History Tidbits: Stories about Biggs, Miller & Grant

Sherman County: For The Record is the twice-yearly historical anthology published by the Sherman County Historical Society 1983-2015. The many authors who contributed to For The Record provide a window into the past with memoirs, official records and wonderful photographs. Sherman County: For The Record may be purchased at the Sherman County Historical Museum, 200 Dewey Street, P.O. Box 173, Moro, OR 97039 or ordered by contacting the museum director, Patti Fields, at director@shermanmuseum.org.

Biggs / Biggs Junction / Grant to Miller … Selected Stories:

Volume, Number & Year

#1-2, 1983

Our County is Formed by Patty Moore

I Remember Miller School by Anna Olson Jacobsen

#2-1, 1984

Sherman County Officers

#3-1, 1985

The Fulton Family by James Gibson Fulton

#3-2, 1985

Lucinda Fulton Isaacs by James Gibson Fulton

The Families on the Bluff above Grant and Rufus by Nellie Dingle Fields

Impressions and Observations of the Journal Man by Fred Lockley, Oregon Journal

#20-1, 2002

Sherman County Newspapers compiled by Sherry Kaseberg and Chris Sanders

#20-2, 2002

Sherman County Schools from the collections of Grace [May] Zevely, compiled by Sherry Kaseberg

#21-1, 2003

Wasco, Hood River and Sherman County Directory, 1910

#22-1, 2004

The Old Blue School by Iva Willard Bishop

#23-2

Locust Grove United Brethren Church [Woodworth] by Mark Fields

#27-1 2009

Floods & Freezes by Julie Reynolds

The Hard Winter of 1861-1862 by Anita Kenny Drake

River Freezing Winters of Yesteryear by Anita Kenny Drake

1884 Winter of the Deep Snow by Giles French, The Golden Land

1884 Winter, Christmas Blizzard of 1884 by Charles McAllister

1894 Columbia River Flood, The North Enders by Curtis A. Tom

1894 Columbia River Flood, An Oregon Boyhood by Bliss Clark

1894 Columbia River Flood: Grant, the Forgotten Town [student essay]

Winter of 1915-16 by Giles French

1996 Mid-Columbia Flood from The Dalles ChronicleaHHhh

#27-2 2009 December 1964 Flood

1964 Christmas Flood from The Sherman County Journal 24 December 1964

Why Did the John Day Bridge Collapse? By Julie Reynolds

Accidents & Fatalities

Biggs & Rufus by Bob Morris, Elaine Kalista & John Hilderbrand

Rainfall & Temperature Record from The Sherman County Journal

The End of the Railroad: The Effects of Railroad Abandonment on Agricultural Areas by John F. Due

#30-1 2012

Sherman County Journal & Rural Newspapers by McLaren Stinchfield

#30-2 2012

The Making of an Exhibit: The Sherman County Journal by Sherry Kaseberg

Biggs Arch by Sherry Kaseberg

#31-1 2013

Grant – Our First Town by Sherry Kaseberg

A Mysterious Death at Grant by Mark Fields, Sherry Kaseberg & Chris Sanders

#31-2 2013

Early Pioneer Life Told by Frank Fulton to Aldruda Beletski

World War II Veterans Historic Highway by Dick Tobiason

Sherman County Journal – 100 Years by Frederick K. Cramer

#32-1 2014

County Seat: Kenneth, Moro or Wasco? by Sherry Kaseberg

#32-2 2014 50th anniversary of the 1964 Flood

50 Years Ago: The 1964 Christmas Flood by Kathy McCullough and Julie Reynolds

Oregon’s Top 10 1900s Weather Events

Roads, Bridges and the Railroad by Dewey Thomas with Mark Fields

Analysis and Abandonment from Rails to the Mid-Columbia Wheatlands

A Sad Christmas by Roy Fanning

Hell, High Water and a Memorable Christmas by Christie Welk

5. Oregon Revised Statutes: Livestock Districts and Open Range

Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 607 defines livestock districts and open range and sets the procedure and requirements for establishing or changing a livestock district. The procedure is handled by the county clerk. When a livestock district is created or changed, written notification is sent to the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA).

Oregon livestock districts:A livestock district is a closed-range district where livestock may not run at large; the livestock owner or manager must keep livestock on his or her own property. The following counties are livestock districts:

Benton

Clackamas

Clatsop

Coos

Gilliam

Hood River

Multnomah

Polk

Sherman

Tillamook

Open-range Oregon counties

Grant

Harney

Lake

Both open-range and livestock districts: Check with the county clerk or the ODA brand recorder for detailed descriptions of open range areas and livestock districts.

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